Year in Review: The 25-year-old breached the 1,000 career plate appearance mark in 2009 en route to his first full season in the Majors. It’s hard to get a true reading on Headley’s power output due to the ballpark he plays in. ISO marks of .151 and .131 suggest around league average, which is enough, when combined with above-average walk rates, to form an above-average offensive player in PETCO. The problem is that he isn’t very good defensively. The positive to take away from 2009 is his improved strikeout rate. The downside is, if he can’t play left field dependably, then where can he play?

The Year Ahead: The Padres’ re-acquisition of Scott Hairston and commitment to youngster Kyle Blanks in left field caused the organization to shift Headley back to his original position of third base, which makes him a full-time option. Even still, he’s not worth your time. The ballpark he plays in will strip away most of his true value and he’s not going to produce a ton of homers or runs batted in because of it. No batting average or stolen base boosts will be found either. Unless your league adjusts for ballpark, there’s just no reason to acquire someone like Headley for the long haul unless you play in a deep NL-only league or have faith that Headley’s potential will overcome his home ballpark’s offense-suppressing qualities. (R.J. Anderson)

Profile: Primarily a left fielder during 2008 and 2009, Headley became a full-time third baseman after Kevin Kouzmanoff was traded to the A's. While UZR rated Headley as a plodder in the outfield, he excelled back at third, the position he played at Tennessee and in the minors. He saved more runs with his glove than any other player at the position. Offensively, he was more of a mixed bag. On the positive side, he was an unexpected source of steals by nabbing 17 bases in 22 tries. However, his ISO declined for the third straight season. After putting up a .151 ISO in '08, Headley had a .131 ISO in '09 and a .111 mark in 2010. Headley's waning power has come with decreased K rates -- 31.4% in '08, 24.5% in '09 and 22.8% this past season. If he's making a conscious effort to make more contact, his lower whiff totals haven't compensated for fewer extra-base knocks. Headley's wOBA totals have declined from .334 during his rookie year to .328 in 2009 to .314 in 2010. He's locked into the lineup, but he needs to start stinging the ball again to rebound at the dish. (David Golebiewski)

The Quick Opinion: Headley's fantasy value already suffers from having to take swings at PETCO, and he's not helping matters by turning into a singles hitter seemingly more concerned with putting the bat on the ball than making authoritative contact. Grip it and rip it, Chase.

Profile: Should the San Diego Padres be inspired by the New York Mets and move their fences in, Chase Headley, 27, might look pretty attractive as he hit .330/.399/.465 when not playing at home in 2011. Overall, it was an interesting year for Headley. On the one hand, he posted his highest wOBA of his career at .344 but he also hit just four home runs over 439 plate appearances in an injury-shortened season. It’s worth pointing out that Headley’s batting average on balls in play was a rather elevated .368. He’s maintained a high BABIP on his career, but a bit of regression in the batting average department can be expected. Also notable was his paltry 4.3% home run per fly ball rate, which should also bounce back, and perhaps owners can bank on a dozen or so home runs from Headley once again. Headley provides a cheap option without major holes in his counting stats -- he contributes in all typical 5x5 categories, but none of them particularly well. Not thrilling, but nice. More exciting if he's traded, of course. (Michael Barr)

The Quick Opinion: Headley doesn’t provide the oomph you’re probably looking for in a typical third basemen, but he still retains value in his ability to provide double digit home runs and steals. If “won’t kill you in any category” is what you have in mind, Chase Headley is your guy.

Profile: Wow. It would be a surprise if anyone saw a breakout to this degree coming for Headley. He doubled his previous career high home run per fly ball ratio and almost tripled his previous career high in home runs. While expecting some regression is the best bet, he did show this type of power in the minor leagues and some of that regression is going to be offset by the closer fences at Petco Park. Aside from the power, Headley once again stole double digit bases and kept his batting average contributions in positive territory by posting another strong batting average on balls in play. He remains one of the biggest wild cards of the upcoming season, but again should be one of the more valuable fantasy third basemen. (Mike Podhorzer)

The Quick Opinion: One of the biggest surprises of the year, Headley broke out in a big way, finally showing the power he hinted at in the minor leagues. Though the percentage play would be to expect regression, the fences moving in at PETCO should offset some of the expected loss of power.

Profile: Headley failed to build off his 2012 success, in part due to a fractured thumb he suffered at the tail end of spring training. He finished the year batting just .250 with just 13 home runs, 50 RBI and eight stolen bases, a far cry from his career totals from the previous season. His strikeouts spiked a bit, but he managed to maintain his usual double-digit walk rate and though his home run total dropped with his fly ball rate, he made up for it with an increase of line drives. That should give fantasy owners hope for some semblance of a return to glory in 2014. Should he maintain his usual plate discipline, a year removed from injury should be plenty of time to allow some of that power to return. He may not bang 30-plus home runs again, but a return to 20 is certainly within the realm of possibility. (Howard Bender)

The Quick Opinion: Headley's statistical trajectory was hindered by a fractured thumb suffered near the end of spring training last season and he was unable to build off his 2012 career-best totals. Still, he managed to maintain his plate discipline and contact rates which gives credence to the belief that he can return to form during the 2014 season.

Profile: Headley is a better real-life player than fantasy asset, with most of his expected value coming from his third base defense. A late-season resurgence with the bat was attributed to a change in his grip that he last used in his breakout 2012 year. In reality, most of the improvement came from calling Yankee Stadium his new home, as he has more swing issues than just how he's holding the bat. Don't go into 2015 looking for him to show signs of his career year even with the new digs. Instead, league average offense paired with his elite defense will be what makes him a useful player to the Bombers. (Dan Farnsworth)

The Quick Opinion: What you see is what you get with Headley for 2015. A .260-ish average with 10-15 homers and a handful of steals along with plus-plus defense will be what he can give you this year.

Profile: If defense counted towards your fantasy team then Chase Headley... would still have been disappointing last year. The bar for quality third basemen is certainly lower than in the past, but Headley did not carry a heavy bat last year. Headley’s hard-hit percentage dropped and his infield fly ball percentage increased to a career high 11.8% which was top-30 in the league. The best attribute Chase has going for him might be his durability, but 155 games of below average production isn’t what wins you a fantasy league. Playing in Yankee Stadium, it would be interesting to see Headley pull the ball more but he actually saw his pull percentage decrease as well. It’s normally a good sign to see a hitter spray the ball but in Headley’s case, exchanging some strikeouts for power could make him an intriguing option. Who knows, maybe that’s what he tried to do last year and instead popped the ball up a bunch. The Yankees don’t have many other options for the hot corner and Chase’s decent bat and defense make him an above average regular but for fantasy purposes he’s inching closer to fodder. (Ben Pasinkoff)

The Quick Opinion: Chase has been unable to live up to his 2012 breakout season. His first half season on the Yankees in 2014 seemed compelling but after a mediocre 2015 it’s hard to get excited about Headley. In AL-only leagues Headley is at least going to play a full season but in mixed leagues I would look elsewhere.

Profile: Headley's full-season numbers for 2016 were slightly below average, just as they were in his first year as a Yankee in 2015. But a closer look reveals a tale of two seasons. Headley couldn't hit water if he fell out of a canoe in the season's first month. The usually-average third baseman hit just .151/.250/.151 through May 5th. He snapped back to productivity shortly thereafter, hitting .269/.344/.426 the rest of the way. The most recent five months of data we have on Headley have been very good, but he also turns 33 in May, which suggests he's more likely to get worse than better. It's probably safe to expect his 2017 numbers to look a lot like last year's... and 2015's and 2014's and 2013's. That's .250ish with 10-15 homers. That's waiver wire fodder in most mixed leagues, but a safe, low-cost, albeit unexciting option in AL-only. (Chris Mitchell)

The Quick Opinion: Headley's a steady, average-ish, defense-first third baseman. That makes him a very useful big leaguer, but a less-useful fantasy player outside of AL-only.

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